I have typed out several funny little anecdotes about how it’s been so long since I wrote. Clever little things, but really, I just forgot. For the past almost 2 weeks, I completely forgot about this blog. That could be because I have been all sorts of busy with weird little things or because the battery on my lap top doesn’t hold any kind of charge anymore and it has to stay plugged in about 97% of the time. Both reasons have made it difficult to curl up on the couch and type away. I feel like I almost need to reintroduce myself, that if I start telling stories about what happened today, you won’t even know what I’m talking about because we are all strangers to you. For example, I am a soccer mom now. I don’t have my mini van, but I have more kids that the average person does so I feel like it’s an even trade. Reese started soccer this past Sunday and today was our first official, I had to actually tell someone I was talking to on the phone, “I’ve got to go, I’m just pulling in to pick my son up from soccer”. It was the first time he got to wear his cleats outside (and they are now filthy because the ground is much like a very grassy swamp), his clothes are filthy and he said he thinks he made his team lose (it was just a little scrimmage) because he missed so many goals, but he loved it. I have one kid in ballet, one in soccer and one taking piano. I feel like I have reached some sort of milestone.
Lila is now on a steady diet of Miralax in EVERYTHING she consumes that is in a somewhat liquid form. There are really detailed stories that I could share leading up to this new lifestyle. Stories that involve forced laundering in the late hours of Friday night which led to a whole giant jug of Tide falling off my washer during the spin cycle and pouring itself all over our laundry room and hallway. Let me tell you, laundry detergent is a real pickle to clean up off your tile floor. I like to tell myself that at least it’s really clean now, I mean it’s Tide after all.
Mattie had her very first piano recital last Tuesday night. She was nervous, but did really well. I think her father and I were a little surprised because Mattie’s nerves don’t typically bring out the best in her musical abilities. Out of several students, she was one of the few that didn’t lose their place. She was also one of the few that used her music and had a song less than 15 pages long (or so it may have seemed). But still, we will take whatever accomplishments we can get. She did well, we were proud and we went out for late ice cream on a school night so you can’t beat that.
Another even that has occurred lately is that Lila and I went shopping the other day. That one isn’t really all that unusual or spectacular in any way – but she was on that particular day. She has started requesting that I make her a lunch every day, whether we are staying home or going out somewhere – she wants a lunch packed in a lunch bag to carry around with her. She also says that she is “doing her work” and will draw these weird circle things all over any piece of paper she can find, but that is neither here nor there. So if we are going to Target or just staying home and doing chores, I must pack a 3rd lunch each day in Mattie’s old owl lunch bag. Last Tuesday, Lila and I headed to the Gap and as I was paying I realized that I couldn’t find her anywhere. She is quite small so it’s easy to lose her, except that she is normally so incredibly loud. I called to her and only heard a slight giggle coming from the middle of the women’s section.
She was obviously hiding.
Only not particularly well…….
I probably should have taken that opportunity to tell her how scary that can be for a mommy when they can’t find their child and to never, ever do that in a store again.
I took her to the cookie store instead
Because if her hiding continues to follow this same pattern, I don’t think it’s going to be much of a threat to her safety.
Other things have come and gone since my last entry, but I wanted to share some photos of our snow day fun.
We bundled everyone up in all that we had. Strangely enough, the child that is growing the most at the present was the only one that had actual snow playing in clothes. Lila had her big ol puffy coat and some coveralls and ever waterproof ski mittens. The other kids……well, Reese at least had some of those nylon jogging-type pants and his puffy coat, but at one point I think Mattie was wearing all of her sweatpants and her leather slippers because all of her other shoes were wet. The oldest children were very disappointed in me that I hadn’t though to purchase proper cold weather, snow clothes for each of them (because it snows SOOOOO much here in the Delta) and at one point I think the oldest was trying to start something with saying that I must love the little one the most because of all her proper clothing and all. That’s some of the fun new pre-tween drama we are also getting to experience these days.
The little child hated the snow. Maybe it wasn’t so much the actual snow, but rather the 7 degrees that it was outside (that might be a slight exaggeration, but I doubt it). Either way, the snow equaled extremely, painfully cold temperatures and she wanted nothing to do with either of them now. The older two enjoyed romping around and playing, hiding and throwing it at each other, and having their daddy push them on the sled down the slope in our front yard…….
Lila had this to say about the snow:
She went inside and undressed herself shortly after this was taken. She just stood at the window, watching her siblings play, all the while talking to herself. It seems to have been very traumatic to her and I don’t think she will ever listen to “Do you want to build a snowman” quite the same way again.
Here are some pictures of what happened right before Brandon ripped the crotch out of his boxers. It was worth the loss of a good pair of underwear though, because Reese shot down our slop, all the way across the street and landed up in our neighbors yard.
Lila did seem to appreciate the Snow Cream that Mattie made for her.
And in the afternoon, since Brandon had the day off, too – a snowman was finally built.
Our snow wasn’t ideal for constructing anything and didn’t stick very well, so a little improvisation was put into action. The snow from our back deck was transported via wheelbarrow to the front where a large pile was formed. Forget about rolling 3 nice balls of snow to form the three parts of a snow person. Ours was instead kinda carved out of the giant mass that was deposited on the front walkway.
Lila refused to be a part of this, because no Anna, she doesn’t want to build a snowman. But she did keep a careful eye on everything.
He was carved out nicely to look like he had three parts and then the finishing touches of stick arms, a baby carrot nose, a cashew mouth and two eyes made out of dried cranberries (don’t judge us, we don’t have a whole lot of coal lying around, but dried fruits and nuts we have in abundance. Topped off with a scarf and a hat and I think that all of Mattie’s snowman hopes and dreams were fulfilled.
And this is what Lila thought of the little guy:
It was a fun snow day and really, though there have been a few bumps that we could have done without, our winter has been a pretty fantastic one. But today, when the sun finally came out (and so did all of Memphis because it has been ridiculous here lately with rain and cold) I opened my arms out and welcomed spring. Spring gave me quite an uneven sunburn on my arms, but I will take it. I am savoring that Vitamin D shot because the rain and the cold probably aren’t gone yet, but also because it just hurt so good. Winter you were lovely, but we are over you now. We have finally used our sled, which was fun but it is broken now because we flew over curbs and such. We built a snow man and never, ever have to do that again either. We have been stuck at the grandparents house (though it was a wonderful time Mumsey and Poppy and you were delightful hosts) and I even got to drive home in the chaos and carnage of I-40 after an ice storm. That was super fun and I hope to never do it again. The puffy coats were put to good use and Lila even got to wear her hand-me-down snowsuit.
Winter, you have been dismissed and it is perfectly fine for you to go ahead and leave now.
Mama Tried 